House ventilation



(No Model.) 28hets-Sheet 1 I. ALLEGRETTI. HOUSE VENTILATION.

No. 532,455. Patented Jan. 15, 1895.

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UNITED STATES PATENT Gr mes.

IGNA'ZIO ALLEGRETTI, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

House VENTILATION.

SPECIFICATION 'forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,435, dated January 15, 1895. Application filed October 17, 1893- Eterial No. 488,351. (No model.)

T0 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, IGNAZIO ALLEGRETTI, of Chicago, Illinois, have invented a certain new and Improved Method of Ventilation, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved method of ventilating buildings, steam ships and all places used for residence or for temporary occupation, and is applicable also to the ventilation of factories, mines, mills, and all other places where convenience or necessity require men to live, or where materials subject to pollution or to be affected by impurities in the air, are to be stored or placed;

My invention further consists in certain novel apparatus for carrying out my method.

My invention, so far as it pertains to the method depends upon the novel application of a natural law which, so far as-I am aware, has never been utilized practically before. This natural law is, that fluids when not under pressure or otherwise impelled, move from the locality of a higher to that of a lower temperature, or vice versa; or, stated more shortly, that air or any other free fluid will move from one point to another where there is a variation of temperature at the two points.

' To apply this invention practically, I have devised certain forms of apparatus which constitute a part of my invention, but it will be understood that my invention can becarried out by apparatus of other forms, and that said apparatus will be modified according to the circumstances of use. The simplest example,

perhaps, is the purification of the air in apartinents or rooms of buildings, and I have selected this application of the invention for the purpose of illustration.

As applied to the ventilation of a building, any number-of stories in height, the apparatus comprises, briefly stated, a conduit, pipe or passage communicating with the several' apartments to be ventilated and extended, say, through the roof or the side wall of the building. This main conduit, stack or trunk, as it may be called, receives the air from one or any number of apartments, and instead of 3 being permitted to discharge directly into the atmosphere, said trunk, pipe or passage is extended to or alongsidesome portion of the building to beventilated, where the mean temperature is lower than that of the rooms which are to be ventilated. For example, in

.ventilating abuilding of several stories in height, the stack may be erected centrally of the building, or if preferred, near one wall thereof and extended through or to the roof, and an extension thereof passed down alongside a portion of the building which is least exposed to the sun, or along any portion of the building where the mean temperature is less than that of the interionmThis difference in temperature, even if not, re than a degree,'will be sufficient to induce a current of air through the trunk or pipe,and thus without the application of any artificial means for moving the air orfor coolingi-t'in the trunk or a branch thereof, a current of air is generated and maintained, thus continually changing the air within the apartment to be ventilated. Of course, the principle of the invention would likewise be applied if one branch of the pipe were conducted through atmosphere artificially cooled, but for practical purposes such artificial cooling is not essential.

Now to appreciate the invention which is above outlined, it. is necessary to consider the effect of simply connecting the interiors of one or. more apartments with a stacl; delivering at an elevation without passing through a lower temperature. These methods have been employed for many years but have not been found sufficient. My invention or discovery is based on the extension of this system .so as to pass the ventilating conduit through an atmosphere colder than that of the apartment to be ventilated. I have also made certain novel mechanical arrangements to facilitate the carrying out of my principal invention or improvement, and this mechanical improvement comprises the arrangement of guards or plates over the openings which lead into to the main trunk, and which lead into the branches from the various apartments. These guards act, when arranged with oer tain relation to the openings, as siphons to assist the movement of the air and facilitate the formation and continuance of air currents.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing in outline a building having several floors, a trunk or uptake extended through the several floors, branch pipes or passages leading from the several apartments into the trunk and a connecting or return pipe communicating with the upper end of the trunk. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the branch inlets. Fig. 3 is a transverse section through one of the slide valves. Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the same; and Figs. 5 and 6 a side elevation and section respectively of a modified construction of the branch pipe in which the slides are 10 applied to the two sides thereof.

In the accompanying drawings, let A, B, 0 represent the several floors of a building which are divided by the transverse partitions D, E, thus making several apartments.

Each of these apartments is provided with horizontal pipes or passages E which may be arranged in or below the ceiling, and provided with inlet openings f. Arranged above these inlets are the deflectors G, which are disposed so as to divide thepipe or passage transversely, the ends of the deflectors farthest from the discharge end of the passage being carried down to the bottom wall of the passage. The openings f are controllable by means of sliding plates or valves II. All of the passages F communicate with a central up-take, stack or trunk I having inlet openings 2', and deflectors G are arranged interiorly of this up-take over the openings from the branch pipes or passages.

If preferred, the branch pipes or passages may have the vertical extensions F, as seen in Fig. 1, carried down to the partitions of the apartments with an in-take at any conven- 5 ient point thereof, or the end of such extension may be left open.

The main trunk or stack I, may be arranged at any convenient point in the building, its location being unimportant except for eco- 0 nomical reasons; and instead of being arranged vertically it may be arranged horizontally. The only essential featnreis that this stack or trunk, or an extension as 1 thereof, shall extend from the interior of the building 5 or place to be ventilated and into or through an atmosphere colder than that of the apartment to be ventilated. This may be accomplished in various ways. For example, the extension I may be carried along-side a wall of the building which is little exposed to the action of the rays of the sun, or which is exposed to prevailing cold winds, or the extension 1 may be arranged within one wall of the building which is least exposed to heat.

It will always be found that a slight difference in temperature will exist between the interior of an apartment and that of a flue or stack in or adjacent to a wall of the building least exposed to sun heat, and this slight dif- 6o ference in temperature, even if not more than a degree, will generate and perpetuate an air current through the stack and its several branches, the movement of the air being indicated by the arrows in the drawings Fig. 1.

Now, this movement of the air will take up from an apartment or mine, the hold of a vessel or the interior of a mill, factory or shop,

the smoke, foul air, gases or odors, no matter how produced or of what character and draw them off through the stack, the extension of which may be open into the external atmosphere or into a sewer as convenience may dietate. The result of this operation is a complete purification of the air within the apartment, and this can be accomplished without opening the apartment directly to the outside air. The doors, windows or other openings of such apartments furnish sufficient means for the introduction of fresh air to the apartment.

I have demonstrated my method practically by applying my apparatus to a cold storage vault which was practically air tight. Before closing the vault a piece of burning material was left within it producing smoke. Within a short space of time, this smoke was found to have traversed the branch pipe, the main conduit of considerable length and discharged at the open end of the conduit external to the vault. This test, while affording an ocular demonstration of the existence of a current has been verified or supplemented by other simple tests, such as holding a lighted candle at the discharge end and the current is so palpable that the flame is extinguished thereby, and the discharging air current can be plainly appreciated by exposing the hand or face thereto. WVhile these are simple tests, I may further state that I have by this simple apparatuspurified the air of shops where odorous liquids were being boiled and have thereby removed all smoke, gases and foul air and have appreciably reduced the temperature. This I have carried on practically over a period of six months or more.

It will be understood that the arrangement and mechanical construction of parts heretofore described are illustrative merely of one application of my invention, and that many changes may be made therein and the invention applied to various other uses. The forms of the pipes or conduits may be varied, one modification being shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Such pipes may be cylindrical or of any other form and the passages may be provided in the construction of thebuilding itself.

I have further contemplated providing the extension I with a branch, such as I, connected with the main trunk by a Y-joint at the crouch of which is provided a valve J so that the passage of the air currents may be controlled at will, the passage I being cut off entirely under some circumstances, and in others, the passage 1 being entirely closed or the currents may be divided so that a portion thereof will pass through the branches 1 and 1 It will be understood that the principle of my invention is applicable to the supplying of apartments, inclosures, mines, the holds of vessels and other places with fresh air without the assistance of apparatus for mechanically moving or forcing the current. This can be done by simply reversing the apparatus which I have above described. The trunk or pipe will be open to the atmosphere at some point where the temperature is lower than that of the air in the place to be supplied. The difference in temperature will result in the in-rushing of a column of the colder air through the pipe, and openings being made in the pipe within the place to be supplied, such colder air or fresh air will be discharged into the inclosure and take the place of the vitiated or deoxygenized air therein.

The mere structural details will, of course, vary according to different circumstances to which the invention is applied, and in all cases, the prevailing winds or other atmospheric influence must be taken into consideration. It may be found expedient in some cases even to conduct the ventilating trunk or a branch thereof through an artificially colder atmosphere where sufficient difference is not found between the place to be ventilated and the atmosphere external thereto, and the apparatus, so far as the pipes with the guards are concerned, may be applied by connecting the trunk I to a chimney for the purpose of ventilatin g apartments. These variations, I consider as coming within the spirit and scope of my invention; and without limiting myself to precise details of construction and arrangement.

The principle involved in the use of my invention may be stated as follows: The pipe or trunk and its delivery branch constitutes a siphon by means of which the air is withdrawn from or forced into an apartment according to whether the atmosphere of the siphon is therefore more dense or heavier, tending to settle tpwardthe delivery end and creating a partial vacuum to which the warm air moves; The principle of working on this theory is the utilization of the difference of weight between the two columns of air and a current is thereby established and maintained so long as these conditions exist. on the other hand, if the inclosed air be cooler than the external atmosphere a contra movement of the current will result.

I claim- 1. .The herein-described means for ventilating apartments, which comprises a pipe or equivalent conduit having a branch opening into and extended beyond the apartment to be ventilated and into or through an atmosphere of different temperature wherebya current is induced through said pipe or passage, depending on the difierence of temperature of the air in different portions of the pipe, substantially as described.

2. The herein-described ventilating apparatus,comprisingapipe or passage communicating with one or more apartments to be ventilated and extending vertically beyond the plane of such apartments and having a descending branch or leg extending through a normally cooler atmosphere whereby a current is induced through the pipeor passage by reason of the difierence in weight of the air columns in the respective legs of such pipe or passage, substantially as described.

3. The herein-described ventilating apparatus, comprising a pipe or passage communieating with the interior of the inclosure to be ventilated and having an inlet opening with a deflector arranged adjacent to said open- IGNAZIO ALLEGRETTI.

Witnesses:

G. C. LINTHICUM, N. M. BOND.

8o ing, said pipe or passage having an upwardly 

